Coronavirus Panic is Real, Happening Now and Creepy

My daughter has a softball game today and it’s my turn to bring the meal. So, I decided to head over to Costco this morning as soon as it opened to pick up sandwiches, drinks and dessert. I decided to go there that early because when I visited for regular shopping just a few days ago, the pallets of toilet paper were completely gone and the pallets of water and paper towels were on their way to disappearing.

It seemed obvious that coronavirus/COVID-19 has spooked people to the point of feeling an urgency to stock up on supplies…even though I might put food a bit higher on the survival list than toilet paper.

Even though on that day, I was there around noon so the store had only been open for two hours and was already bereft of two-ply, I resolved that I’d beat the hoarders and get there today just minutes after it opened.

What met me at first when I arrived was the curiosity that every parking space was already filled up, a growing number of cars were orbiting the massive lot, waiting for a space to open up. Had I made a mistake on what time Costco opens? Did it open at 9:00am and not 10:00am?

When I had finally parked and approached the entrance, I saw a very long line of people snaked out into the parking lot…people waiting to get into Costco. I checked the sign at the entrance and it did indeed display that they had opened just ten minutes before I arrived, at 10:00am.

This was already disconcerting. The traffic inside the store was remarkable, so many people with carts squeezing past each other, looking more purposeful than worried.

I came upon a long line of people at the back of the store which was curious though once I passed them to see there were no pallets of toilet paper where they always are, and few pallets of water and toilet paper, it became clear. This line, which circled around the water/paper goods section of the store, was the one I had come upon down the aisle. The slow-moving, incredibly long and circular line led to the warehouse doorway where workers were loading up one shopper’s cart at a time with the amount of water, toilet paper and paper towels they wanted.

I remarked on what was going on to a Costco employee who was directing shopper traffic, he was in disbelief and guessed that many people had just heard of the threat of COVID-19 but didn’t really follow the news as to the details. So…they were simply panic shopping.

The irony here is that, in order to prepare for the possible armageddon that Coronavirus will bring, where toilet paper will be used as money and the person with the most water bottles shall rule them all, this mass of people were all bustling together, sharing each other’s air and potentially, viruses. There were shoppers who were wearing masks but some were the surgical type masks that offer little protection anyway, they were the ones with the more panicky, squinty eyes…no doubt scanning the crowd to figure out who might infect them.

Additionally, instead of there being multiple lines to check out with the cashiers, there was such a mass of people there, a long line had formed on either side of the store in which shoppers were forced to wait in order to get to a cashier. I would estimate that the wait for those at the end of the barely moving line would be around two hours (just like voting in L.A.!).

From my research, that is, visiting this Costco twice in a span of three days, I witnessed an exponential increase in panic buying. And it seems intuitive that this is probably surging like this in many parts of the country, even if it is partially below the radar so far.

To give you a sense of what was going on today, here is video I shot of one of the long lines running to the back of Costco (literally, the length of a warehouse) that shoppers were waiting in to be able to check out. Please note the following items that appear in nearly every cart and sometimes, in multiple amounts: Water bottles, toilet paper, paper towels, bleach, etc. Also note how few food items or other types of items appear in carts.

I discovered other folks who were doing what I was doing, putting back the items in our carts to leave this madness.

I had also stopped in at my local supermarket earlier in the week after finding the topilet paper at Costco had all been snapped up and while I had no problem purchasing toilet paper there, the shelves were a bit barren. I returned today to buy the treats for the softball game and found both the toilet paper and water sections stripped down to nearly empty:

Water section at Ralphs supermarket

Toilet paper section at Ralphs supermarket

When it comes to water and toilet paper, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Fear is a multiplier, the more it’s widely accepted, the more it grows. While there seems to be no connection right now between Coronavirus and running out of Charmin, that connection has been made out of fear and ignorance. And now, the legit fear of not being able to buy the basics because of others’ panic-buying, is justified and multiplies all other fears.

I was very concerned that Trump’s demented attempt to play down the threat of Coronavirus would be believed by many people. It’s important for people to recognize the reality of this pandemic so they can take steps to protect themselves and everyone else. However, it now looks like it’s swung the other way and panic is growing among the public, especially the low information folks who just hear that a killer virus is coming and people are going to be quarantined.

It wouldn’t be misguided to assume that as the testing finally becomes more widespread and the cases of Coronavirus multiply, the current panic could only get worse. So, it becomes incumbent on the media and all Americans to help inform others about the reality of Coronavirus, the realistic threat and treatment and do what we can to mitigate this wildly growing panic before it becomes more destructive.

AdLib, it’s a few days later now (I’m writing on March 14) and this level of hysteria hit Ohio on Wednesday (March 12). We’re a bit behind our coastal friends, but we always eventually get there!

Like you, I just needed to pick up a few items for the almost 98 year old Dad (the famous Warlord) at the local Kroger. And also like you, I knew when I pulled into the parking lot that I was in trouble. Nearly every parking space was full. And the store was mobbed. People seemed to translate their sense of urgency into a “need for speed.” They were using their shopping carts as high velocity battering rams — and God help the geezer or small child who got in their way. It was as though they believed that if they got through the store in 13 minutes rather than 15, those extra two minutes would delay the onset of the virus attack in their bodies by the same amount.

In short, the atmosphere was distinctly Trumpian. There’s an expert on narcissism who makes YouTube videos. His name is Sam Vaknin. And he’s dubbed this “The narcissistic virus for a narcissistic civilization.”

Isn’t it ironic? Trump came into power with the support — in part — of people who view themselves as highly religious. People who will get really irritable when they hear the words: “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas.” But now when there’s a perfect opportunity for them to demonstrate their “christianity,” it turns out that their motto (and the motto that we really should have on our currency) is:

I’m sure you found it as foreign as I did, this kind of mob mentality, panicking mindlessly (they need all that bottled water because COVID-19 will blow up their water faucets?) and appearing interested in only themselves and theirs.

I do understand the rushing through the store part of it. First, they are panicked overall so that’s part of it but second, they are panicked that some pig will take the all the remaining packages of toilet paper instead of their taking it all (it’s only when other people hoard that the hoarder is a pig).

I will say though, that while the Costco back on the 6th was packed as illustrated above, there wasn’t rushing through the store. Maybe that was because the intensity of the threat wasn’t as acute as it is now though maybe it also is a result of having a greater amount of Trumpers there who were mindlessly buying his BS that it was all a Dem hoax until they had the rug pulled out from under them as Trump was forced to admit it wasn’t. So they’re late to the game as the spike of cases is coming and feel the need to rush to prepare? Or maybe it’s the same now in L.A. markets, I don’t know because I haven’t been back to one so far. Though, my wife went to the same Ralph’s last week that I had no trouble buying whatever I needed and said the store was stripped clean of food. No meats, no bread, no produce, no frozen meals…and the lines were enormous. She just left (as I did at Costco).

I had already stocked up (without hoarding, only bought one big pack of toilet paper) on food on the 6th so we’re fine for a while, we’d be fine for the next couple of weeks if need be but I did want to get some things we’re running low on without diving back into The Hunger Games.

So, I decided to try the market’s website for pickup or delivery. Aside from toilet paper and water not being available, nearly everything else was at least available to select. So, I completed my shopping list and decided to go with delivery instead of pickup, since it wasn’t a rush. The first available date was in 5 days which was fine so I went with it. Curious, I went back and did a test shopping on the site for pickup instead and discovered that there were no available pickup times for three days, which was as far as they offered it so there was no pickup time one could setup at all.

Flush with my success with that order, I remembered Costco had free delivery for orders over $75 so I thought I’d see how far I could get there. Much was available, you could even order toilet paper though it had a caution that it might not be available and suggested paper towels as a substitute (that would be “roughing it” but it’s a time for self-sacrifice). I ordered most of what I had originally intended to buy on the 6th and delivery was shown as 4 days from then.

I don’t know if they will actually be able to provide all the items I requested but I’ll update here when I get my orders.

Meanwhile, this happened while I was writing this, my daughter walked to the Ralph’s as an expedition (home from school and starting online HS tomorrow for two weeks at least) and is shopping there now. She says it’s pretty normal, not crowded and lots of groceries available. Some things are unavailable, canned soup, frozen foods, water, tp and there are signs at least in the dairy aisle saying to limit purchases to multiples of two but no one’s going to starve.

I had a feeling that after the “gorge” of overbuying, there should be a relative return to normal in markets as people try to dig themselves out from under the 10 jugs of gallon milk they bought last week (I saw a photo of a woman who filled her cart that way…how do you store all that milk???).

It’s maybe not as ironic as it is revealing a truth we’ve pretty much known all along, these “Christian” Trump supporters use that title to think of themselves as righteous but it just camouflages their true nature of being selfish/racist/hateful/etc.

Trump may be more of a personification of the moral corruption of a big segment of our nation, thanks in large part to the cynical brainwashing by people like the Kochs, Fox News and other RW elitists to leverage them for wealth and power.

It will be a fight in November to dislodge Trump but the momentum continues to grow on our side.

I visited an Aldi today. It felt somewhat more sane than Kroger did last week. But — still no toilet paper. I still have some, but when that runs out I can always resort to what there was plenty of at Aldi. Baby wipes. Apparently I was the only person willing to go with that option. Manly Ram truck driving, gun-totin’ Trumpistas couldn’t bring themselves to hoard cucumber-mint fluffy soft baby wipes, it seems. Their loss.

It seems like those drowning in toilet paper should have done most of the damage they’re going to do by now…unless it’s like a neurosis and they will keep buying up TP until their garages and backyards are filled with it.

I’d at least like to think that most of the panic buying has happened and availability of staples will start growing in the coming weeks.

But if it comes down to it, I’ll trade in my Ram truck for some baby wipes.

Wait a minute! Time out! Hold the phone and stop the music! You mean to tell me that the very people (trump supporters) who said the coronavirus is a hoax, are now storming supermarkets and hoarding food?